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1 results

  • 7 - The War of Succession

  • John F. Richards, Duke University, North Carolina
  • Book:
    The Mughal Empire
    Published online:
    28 March 2012
    Print publication:
    18 March 1993, pp 151-164

  • Summary

    During the last half of Shah Jahan's reign a long-standing political and intellectual conflict in the Mughal empire polarized around the two most able and forceful Mughal princes: Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb. An experienced military commander and administrator, Aurangzeb served as governor of the Mughal Deccan and Gujarat, and then as commander of Mughal armies in the invasion of Balkh and the first two sieges of Qandahar fort. Aurangzeb and Mir Jumla had for some time worked up a plan for the invasion of the kingdom as soon as the long-anticipated death of Muhammad Adil Shah occurred. When Shah Jahan fell ill, pent-up tensions between the mature Timurid princes exploded into a four-sided war of succession. On June 5, 1659, Aurangzeb sat on the throne in the Hall of Public Audience in the fortress at Shahjahanabad. It was Aurangzeb's insistence on Islamic exclusivity that shaped imperial policy over the next half century.